1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to games of toss wherein a projectile is tossed at a target, and more particularly to the game of quoits, and even more particularly to an improved quoit board or game target.
2. Preliminary Discussion
The game of quoits is a centuries old game that was brought to the Americas during colonial times. The earliest forms of the game were similar to the present game of horseshoes, but where players take turns throwing metal rings at a stake about 20 feet away. While the game of horseshoes has continued to thrive in the U.S., the original metal ring version of quoits has basically disappeared in most of the United States. Quoits, however, remains popular in the eastern United States, particularly in central and eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in several modified versions. In the most popular modified version, which has been played in Pennsylvania for at least 120 years, the metal rings have been replaced with rings made of hard rubber, and the stakes in the ground have been replaced with two-foot square slate boards which are about 1¼ inches thick (after running through a grinding machine) and have an aluminum or metal hub or peg secured therein protruding upwardly from the center top of the board. A quoit board support usually made of wood is attached to the underside of the rearward edge of the board extending downwardly such that when the board is placed on the ground, the top or playing face is slanted or angled downwardly towards the players. Scoring rings are then usually provided on the face of the board surrounding the peg. During play, two boards are set up facing each other about 18 ft. apart, and the players take turns tossing the rubber rings at the target and stake on the board. A cumulative scoring system based on the accuracy or results of the tosses is used to determine the winning player or team.
The version of the game quoits just described became popular in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey because such area is the heart of the so-called “slate belt” of the United States, where large quantities of high quality slate from which the quoit boards can be manufactured are readily available. Slate is a hard rock that naturally breaks into thin, smooth layers, and has a composition and structure that enables it to be cut into square pieces and then sanded to the proper texture fairly easily as compared with most other known natural or man-made materials. Slate quoit boards have also been popular because slate has a consistency which when impacted by a hard rubber quoit deadens the impact, provides a characteristic thump when thrown properly, which is familiar and soothing to regular quoit players, and has a surface friction which retards sliding of the quoits down the slanted surface of the board. Unfortunately, however, quoits has not significantly increased in popularity outside of this general area, and in fact remains relatively unknown in many parts of the United States as well as in most of the rest of the world. A major reason for such only regional popularity of the game of quoits is that it is prohibitively expensive to transport or ship pairs of slate quoit boards each weighing approximately 66 lbs. even relatively short distances, so that only local delivery and pickup services for the boards is usually available. In addition, while slate has properties that make it ideal for use in making quoit boards, a drawback of slate is that it chips rather easily, so that greater than normal care in packaging and transporting the boards is required, further increasing the shipping costs. Nevertheless, judging from the popularity of quoits in the “slate belt” and closely surrounding areas, and from the popularity of horseshoes in general throughout the United States and world, the present inventor believes that if made readily available and properly marketed, quoits would quickly expand in popularity. Recognizing such opportunity, the present inventor, after much experimentation and research, has now developed a quoit board that rather than being made from slate is made of a lighter and more durable plastic material, weighing less than 25 lbs. Through a unique manufacturing process and method, a quoit board having most of the advantages of slate quoit boards but also being light enough to ship or delivery at a reasonable cost has resulted. It is believed that through use of such board the popularity of quoits will quickly spread into areas where it is currently relatively unknown.
3. Description of Related Art
As indicated above, quoits boards made of slate are well known, particularly in the northeast United States, and more specifically in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Slate is used as the game board not only because it is readily available in such area, but also because the playing surface can be sanded to provide the proper texture. If the playing surface is too smooth, the rubber quoits will slide off the board too easily when thrown at the target. On the other hand, if the surface is too rough, the rubber quoits will be quickly become worn or damaged as they are thrown and come into contact with the playing surface. While other materials such as wood and cement have been used as quoit boards, none have proved to be satisfactory, as such other materials are either too hard or soft, or the surface too slippery or on the other hand too abrasive, to be used effectively. Therefore, up to now most of the advances in such game have been with respect to methods of playing, rather than in the game board itself. There are many other types and variations of games known in the prior art where projectiles are thrown or tossed at a target. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,375 issued to D. Dresel entitled “Game Apparatus”, a rectilinear shaped device having a centrally disposed receptacle in its upper surface that opens to the inside of the device, and further having a backstop device extending upwardly from the rear side of the receptacle. Quoit-like discs are then tossed at the device, with the aim being to direct them into the receptacle. While such new devices provide new games and the like that are useful for their particular purposes, as far as the present inventor is aware, no one has previously been able to develop a quoit board that can satisfactorily simulate the experience of playing quoits with a slate quoit board but which board is lighter and more durable than such slate boards, and which objective is accomplished by the present inventor's boards.